Jekyll and hyde the juice.

Disclaimer: This “juice bomb” trend is really getting out of control. They taste fucking delicious, i would never say they don’t, but it’s beer people…beer. It’s not even the fault of the brewers themselves, but the juice lovers have it in their head that if beer doesn’t taste like juice, then it sucks or it’s a “malt bomb”. Man up and broaden your horizons.

Having said that, this post is actually about some southern attempts at the NE style IPA, so go figure. The beer scene is quite different this side of the Mason/Dixie line as their isn’t many frequent releases to line up for or having to pay $20 for a four pack of 16oz cans, which I totally look at as a perk. The local breweries I frequent such as River Dog and Southern Barrel do have a rotating wide variety on draft but not much in the cans department so a couple pints and a to go growler it is. The NE style IPA. or the aforementioned juice bombs, are slowly but surely making their way down the coast.

Case in point is Jekyll Brewing of Alpharetta Georgia, with all around solid brews, they have a couple takes on the haze craze (more bitching about that later). Not really advertised as an NE IPA, because frankly it isn’t one, but that’s what i tasted so I’m counting it.

So there.

Hoot’n & Holler’n (can’t get more southern than that) is a DIPA that as smooth as the day is long. The more I read about it, I heard it had more of a malt character, but I got a lot of similar characteristics to the always delicious, and expensive, Trillium and Treehouse. As some of you are reading this, I’m sure you are shouting “blasphemy!” or “did he just compare other beers to Trillium AND Treehouse, how dare he!”, but that’s my story and I’m stickin to it. Even at 94 IBU’s and 8.8% ABV I was mesmerized by the balance of flavors and it really went down, well…

like juice.

(Shit! I told myself I wasn’t going to say that!)

(Maybe they didn’t see it?)

***Who said that??***

Sorry for the interruption folks, they won’t stop talking sometimes. Getting back to the task at hand, the next brew is (and I’m not making this up) called Southern Juice. This being directly inspired by the NE (New England/Northeast) style didn’t really hit me over the head as much with juice, as I was expecting from the name. Still delicious in its own right with a run of the mill 6.3% ABV, the color, haze, and look was there but I was missing something. When something is in the juicy style and then calls itself juice in the name of said beer, i was expecting a little bit more. Maybe if I just tasted without reading the label I would’ve been pleasantly surprised, as I was with H&H, not expecting the taste of my former home (Massholes stand up!).

Whether the juice is loose or the malt bomb is ticking, I love IPA’s for what they are.

Blasphemy! 94 IBUs, holy moly. I’d be interested in finding and sampling that to see about that balance. A friend’s home brew was once calculated to be at 98 IBUs and didn’t turn out nearly as bitter as I expected. It’s in the blend, and like you say, the balance.

NE coast style IPAs are my favorite, for sure. It’s exciting to see more breweries try their hand at them. Not all of them work, and some just end up like traditional IPAs. But still, exciting stuff! If you homebrew I have a NE coast style IPA recipe too!